By Pepper Parr
July 13, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Stuart Laughton is reflective when asked what his part will be in the inaugural Lowville Festival that begins this weekend.
Stuart Laughton, trumpeter, will be playing parts of the Lowville Festival this weekend.
“I haven’t done all that much in Burlington or for Burlington even though the city has been my home more than thirty years” he said.
“My work as a musician kept me out of the city much of the time. When was asked to perform I was delighted and look forward to playing outdoors and getting a sense of the sound the land will give back.”
Laughton has played in rural settings before and spoke of the occasion when he would play his trumpet early in the morning when the mist had yet to leave the water.
“The animals in the forest react to the sound; birds will respond – it is quite a feeling.”
For a man who has played his trumpet in some of the biggest and the greatest locations in the world and shared a stage with some of the jazz greats – he marvels that a short distance from where he lives in Roseland there was the Brant Inn that had people like Duke Ellington playing. Louis Armstrong was a regular in Burlington, he adds.
A musician who sees himself as exceedingly fortunate and has this infectious enthusiasm for everything he does never had a clear goal – other than knowing that his life was going to be about music.
He was a founding member of the Canadian Brass and adds “things began to go very well for them when I left.”
His time away from the Canadian Brass – 35 years, had him travelling the world and playing trumpet on some of the most glamorous stage in exciting locations.
There is an almost boyish sense of enthusiasm to Laughton. He sees the sky as the limit to anything you decide to do.
During our interview at Laughton’s Roseland home – large boulders were being set on the front lawn – they apparently had to be in very specific locations. Laughton would scoot about the lawn watching as three very healthy young men and a Bobcat manoeuvered the boulders into place while he looked on – wanting to supervise but knowing that they knew what they were doing. The boulders were still being manoeuvered when the interview was over and Laughton returned to his role of a sidewalk superintendent.
The Lowville Festival isn’t just a jazz event; the programme includes a little bit of everything. Laughton was prepared though to talk about festivals in a community and how they can grow. He has been involved in the Halliburton Festival for a number of years and while Lowville isn’t quite the same setting he hopes that Lowville will find its place and become something that puts down its own roots.
Laughton points out that music goes through phases: there was a time when he played a lot of the clubs in Toronto: The Senator; The Colonial; George’s Spaghetti House to name a few.
A lot of those clubs are no longer in business – Toronto now has a very large annual Jazz Festival. There is a very successful, allbe it local, Beach Jazz Festival as well. These things come and go.
Laughton and his trumpet
Laughton plays guitar and has begun working with a voice coach – he wants to expand his reach and begin singing.
This man plays a very mean trumpet – and when he decides to let her rip – you are hearing the sound of a man who has been doing this most of his life and loves every minute of his lips pressing against the mouthpiece.
He is worth the drive to Lowville!
The full festival program is set out below:
Tickets can be had on line at Ticketpro
Available at the door – but cash only.
DRIFTWOOD THEATRE WORKSHOP
THURSDAY JULY 16 2:30 pm
6210 LOWVILLE PARK ROAD
Driftwood Theatre offers a free workshop and opportunity to perform in the evening’s performance of HAMLET. Contact www.thinkspot.ca to sign up.
DRIFTWOOD THEATRE’S HAMLET
THURSDAY JULY 16TH 6 pm Doors Open. 7:30 Show commences.
6210 LOWVILLE PARK ROAD
Shakespeare’s royal murder mystery featuring some of the most famous lines in theatre unfolds for audiences outdoors in beautiful Lowville Park. Driftwood Theatre. Toronto’s professional touring company, is offering this classic play for a Suggested Ticket Price of $20 or Pay What You Can.
Sponsored by THINKSPOT
SWINGIN’ ON A STAR
FRIDAY JULY 17, 2015 7:30 PM
ST. GEORGE’S PARISH HALL
Loretta Bailey and Robert Missen, hosts.
Artists include Stuart Laughton, Renee Barabash, Andy Griffiths, David Warrack, Lorraine Foreman, Michael Mulrooney, Jude Johnson, Charles Cozens, Wayne Strongman and the Lowville Festival Choir,
The first Lowville Festival with a Gala Concert featuring a wide range of superlative performers, most of whom hail from Burlington.
Classical, pop, jazz, blues, folk, musical theatre. The second half of the concert will be a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Sinatra. Proceeds from this benefit concert will be dedicated to the establishment of the festival.
$25 ADVANCE/$30 AT THE DOOR
MY CAT FLASH’S SOPHISTICATED SONGS FOR KIDS
SATURDAY JULY 18TH 2 PM
LOWVILLE SCHOOLHOUSE
ANDY GRIFFITHS and FRANK KOREN
Burlington singer-songwriter Andy Griffiths launches his new kids’ show, which will also entertain the kid in all of us.
$10
ROOTS N’ ROLL: ACOUSTIC ROOTS IN THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE
SATURDAY JULY 18TH 8 PM
LOWVILLE SCHOOLHOUSE
Andy Griffiths and Frank Koren and Kim
Join Andy and his Burlington musical friends for an intimate evening with local songwriters in the Victorian stone schoolhouse in the centre of Lowville.
$20
SUNDAY JULY 19TH 11 AM
LOWVILLE PARK, between the playground and the creek, under the trees
ADMISSION FREE
NIA is a joyful, mindful, and expressive physical conditioning practice, incorporating moves from dance, martial arts, yoga and other alignment arts, as well as individualized, free form movement. NIA offers fun and fitness to men and women of all ages and fitness abilities. Join Nia Black Belt teacher Anna Schantz for a NIA dance fitness experience in Music, Movement, and Magic. Theme: Psychedelic Sunday. Bare feet, hippie attire, and flowers most welcome. Suitable for everybody. www.nianow.com
FOR LOVE OF LOWVILLE
SUNDAY JULY 19TH 2 PM
LOWVILLE UNITED CHURCH
Lorretta Bailey and Robert Misen, hosts
Artists include Melissa Bel, Janet Turpin Myers, Loraine Foreman, Jude Johnson, Lorreta Bailey, Robert Missen and Daryl Webber.
Special Guest: GORDIE TAPP
Celebrating the rich historical and Escarpment heritage of the hamlet of Lowville in a concert that combines music and the spoken word. Local musicians Melissa Bel and Lorretta Bailey are joined by novelist Janet Turpin Myers. Legendary Burlington entertainer Gordie Tapp, formerly of Lowville, will be reunited with Lorraine Foreman, his colleague on Country Hoedown, one of the most popular Canadian television shows of the fifties.
$20 ADVANCE/$25 AT THE DOOR
SUMMER SERENADE
SUNDAY JULY 19TH 7:30 PM
ST. GEORGE’S PARISH HALL
Rebecca Caine of Les Miserables fame will be part of the Lowville festival
ROBERT MISSEN is hosting this event.
Artists include Rebecca Caine, soprano; Robert Kortgaard , piano; Rachel Mercer, cello; Stuart Laughton, trumpet; Renee Barabash, piano; Michael Mulrooney, piano
Missen says they will be bringing the inaugural festival to a glorious conclusion with a concert featuring some of the country’s finest classical and musical theatre artists. Rebecca Caine, the original Cosette in Les Miserables and star of the Toronto production of Phantom of the Opera; Oakville-born cellist Rachel Mercer; and virtuoso trumpeter Stuart Laughton will present a concert featuring Bach, Chopin and Schafer as well as a special tribute to The Sound of Music.
$25 ADVANCE/$30 AT THE DOOR
Lowville doesn’t see this much action even during the Winter Carnival. Getting around Lowville is easy once you know where you are going.
The United Church is at the corner of Guelph Line and Britannia Road with a decent parking lot behind the church.
St. Georges isn’t actually in Lowville, it isn’t even in Burlington. It is on Guelph Line just above Derry Road – can’t miss the place – it is a beautiful stone building built in 1896
